Adobe will add support for iOS 5’s Newsstand feature for digital publications to its Digital Publishing Suite, which could bring more than 600 titles into Newsstand’s digital marketplace. DPS will include full support for Newsstand subscriptions and help eliminate the long downloading times that can be a barrier to readers. Because the software is cross-platform, publishers will also be able to develop publications for Android tablets and BlackBerry Playbooks as well as for iOS devices.
Newsstand will function as a dedicated app for users that stores their existing subscriptions, automatically downloads the latest issue, and offers customers a chance to buy subscriptions for their favorite newspapers and magazines in an isolated section of the larger iTunes Store. Although Apple gets a 30 percent cut of subscriptions, publishers get far more exposure than they would on the iBookStore — as well as an opportunity to interact with readers through in-app messages, such as requests for subscriber information and links to web sites.
Though periodical publishers were slow to get on board with Apple, many of the major magazine and newspaper titles saw the announcement of Newsstand as a strong step forward and have signed up for the service. When combined with the mobile-device publishing features of DPS and the rest of the Adobe Creative Suite​ v5.5, Newsstand completes a pipeline from production to promotion to payment that publishers had tried — and largely failed — to build themselves that will catch on with consumers.
The update to the Digital Publishing Suite will be released shortly after the arrival of iOS 5 and the Newsstand application, expected this fall. Adobe’s Digitial Publishing Suite is available for Mac and Windows in both Enterprise and Professional editions. Updates on the new version will be posted on the company’s blog for DPS.
